[Being Your Own Boss – Part 2] What Should Your Business Be About?

This is Part 2 of UmmahHub’s series on Being Your Own Boss that reveals the keys to help you become a successful entrepreneur and be the best you can be in business and in life, In sha Allah.

In Part 1, we’d discussed the fundamental importance of developing an entrepreneurial mindset for the success of any business. In this part, we’ll explore how to identify and narrow down on the right business idea: one that will serve the market and your personal goals.

When beginning your entrepreneurial journey, it’s less important to be looking for a “big idea” like the next Google or the next Facebook but more important to look for a business idea that matches your skills, knowledge level and, most importantly, is solving a problem for your intended market.

Separate Facts from Fiction

For every great idea out there that becomes a business, there are thousands of ideas that don’t end up successful.

Contrary to popular belief, what you would be surprised to learn is that most successful businesses we see today were a result of a simple idea executed successfully by a smart team. They never waited for the ‘right time’. They just went ahead and started. If you study successful businesses, either small enterprises or large Fortune 500 companies, you will learn that they rarely reinvented the wheel either. They simply made an existing idea better. They looked at the marketplace, identified a gap in the market and said: “How do I make this better?”

It’s not about the idea that you have, but rather the execution of that idea.

Here is the simple formula that makes up a successful business idea:find a problem or a pain-point for someone and provide a solution.

Finding a pain point means that you must be solving a problem for someone that they are willing to pay for that is better than what already exists. What can you do that will make something easier for someone? What can you create that will make life more enjoyable for someone? What can you build that will help uplift someone or bring happiness to someone?

This is the starting point of finding a great idea.

Practical Steps to Finding a Good Business Idea

If you are starting from scratch, follow along below:

Step 1: Who are you?

Think about your work history. What have you done? What fields have you worked in? Do you have hobbies? What skills do you have? What activities do you enjoy doing? What do you like? What do you love to do?

What problems do you face on a day-to-day basis that you wish there was a solution for? List all the problems you face in your day-to-day life.

Ask yourself:

Are there things you wish were easier while working at your job or on your hobbies?

Have you been in a situation where something happened that you didn’t like?

Did you have to learn or do something the hard way and found an easier way to do it?

Is there a product or service you wish you had to make your life easier?

Is there a skill or piece of knowledge that you are passionate about that you can ‘niche-down’ for a particular audience?

Step 3: Combine Your Skills with Potential Problems

The third step is to see whether you can identify opportunities to develop a business idea based on markets, fields or communities you are familiar with that also match your skills and passions. Let’s look at some examples:

Were you a full-time working parent and found yourself needing affordable daycare for your children? Are there opportunities to start a daycare in your neighbourhood? Even better, think smaller: what about providing Islamic daycare for young Muslim families?

Love photography? Are there opportunities for you to photograph clients for a fee? Even better, think smaller: what about catering to shooting female-only (if you are a woman) or male-only (if you are a man) events? What about shooting weddings for Muslim couples?

Love graphic design? Are there opportunities in your network to provide beautifully designed posters for events? How about designing for a few events for free and see what response you get?

Additional Tips

Your best ideas may come from your network: Identify entrepreneurs and business people in your network who you can bounce ideas off of. They might lead you to a new direction.

Find inspiration: Sometime the best ideas come when you aren’t thinking about business, they come when you are inspired. The best way to be inspired is to do what you love: paint, take a walk, go surfing – do something you enjoy and you might come across great ideas for a new business

Context – remain aware of your environment: Keep up with the local news, read more industry magazines. Are there opportunities, trends or potential booming demographics that you can provide a possible product or service for? Are there markets that are underserved and needing solutions?

The Key is Creating Value

Finding a business idea is not as complicated as one might think. All around us, there are needs that are waiting to be fulfilled! The most important thing is to realize that it doesn’t need to be original or unique; you must simply try to improve upon existing solutions to the problem that you are trying to solve.

Value creation is the core of any successful business. When you solve a pain-point or a problem for someone, you are creating value.

Whenever you come across an opportunity, ask yourself these questions:

How can I improve on this?
Is there a market that is underserved and how can I better meet their needs?
Can I run a better, more efficient business than that person over there?
In no time, you will have a flood of ideas coming your way and ample opportunities to create value and serve your market; and with the right amount of planning and effort, you will have a thriving business, In sha Allah.

In the next part of the Being Your Own Boss series, we’ll learn how to get started and develop a product or service based on your business idea. What business ideas have you come up with and why? Let us know in the comments section below!

Want to learn more about how a Muslim business owner created a great business from ordinary ideas? Download our exclusive case-study for ProductiveMuslim readers.

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Written byObaid Ahmed

Obaid Ahmed is a technology entrepreneur, youth mentor, investor, philanthropist and community builder. He founded UmmahHub with a mission to redefine fundraising, change-making and entrepreneurship for Muslim communities.